Racquetball debuts first professional team event in Las Vegas

Four sponsor-backed squads turned racquetball’s pro scene into a team event at The STRAT in Las Vegas, where World Team Racquetball debuted with four teams of top male and female players fighting for a $10,000 prize pool. Play began at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, September 24, 2024, continued on Wednesday, September 25, and spectators got in free while the matches were live streamed.

The format mattered because it changed the way the sport could be sold. Instead of the usual singles-and-doubles bracket, the inaugural field was built around KWM Gutterman, ProKennex, Team Dovetail and Eve Promotions, giving racquetball a branded team identity that could be pushed to fans and sponsors alike. USA Racquetball first billed the event as the Team Pro Challenge, then later identified it as World Team Racquetball, a signal that organizers wanted this to read as more than a one-off exhibition.

That launch sat directly in front of the 15th annual 3WallBall World Championships, which ran September 25-29, 2024, at the same Las Vegas Strip venue. 3WallBall’s annual outdoor court complex has long turned a parking-lot setup into a public stage for racquetball, handball and paddleball, and the team event added a cleaner entry point for casual viewers who may not follow every individual draw. A smaller set of team identities is easier to follow than a full singles bracket, and it gives announcers, camera crews and sponsors a stronger hook than another standard elimination tree.

Keith Minor, whose KWM Gutterman team helped front the debut, said the format would showcase “the most exciting and talented professional racquetball players” in a way fans would enjoy. Abel Perez, owner of Team EVE Genesis, said the event would bring players from around the world to compete at the highest levels in racquetball. Those comments matched the way the event was staged: a compact, sponsor-backed showcase built to look and feel more marketable than a traditional standalone pro draw.

USA Racquetball’s July outdoor update placed WTR at the front of the 2024 outdoor calendar, immediately before the 3WallBall championships and alongside the Beach Bash and Outdoor Nationals in the Outdoor Cup series. That scheduling made the Las Vegas debut feel like a test case for where pro racquetball might go next: not away from singles and doubles, but toward a model that can package elite play with clearer branding, easier storytelling and more sponsor value.